CoreCommerce is a Hosted Shopping Cart Platform with plans starting at $19.99 / month. It is owned by a company called Sum Effect Software. They took the licensed version of DigiShop Pro that used to be sold for $799 and created a Software As A Service (SAAS) product that would allow small to medium sized businesses to sell online. The following review of CoreCommerce will enable you to make an informed decision about this platform.

CoreCommerce’s headquarters is located in Franklin, Tennessee.

Going through the “Software License and Services Agreement”, CoreCommerce states that it is “designed to serve the Small and the Independently owned business” but going over all the different features that this platform has to offer; we wouldn’t be afraid to say that Medium size online merchants could really benefit from this platform. We have definitely seen online stores with over $1M in revenue / year using less sophisticated software than what CoreCommerce has to offer today.

Restrictions:

CoreCommerce does not allow any male or female frontal nudity or any sexually explicit video, audio or text content. Links to other websites, which may contain this kind of material, is also strictly prohibited.

Security:

CoreCommerce is a PCI-DSS compliant platform. This shopping cart is on MasterCard’s and VISA’s List of Compliant Service Providers which is very important for any serious online merchant. All credit card information is encrypted and protected at all times. Many banks will require you to use a PCI Compliant platform before they approve your Merchant Account. CoreCommerce’s compliance date is October 7th of 2009.

CoreCommerce’s FREE Trial Account:

Upon signing up for their trial account we got 3 emails.

CoreCommerce Support and how to access it.

Order Confirmation showing a $0 balance for our Free Trial Store.

Trial Store links to Control Panel and other log in information.

Signing up for a CoreCommerce’s Trial Account took us less than 5 minutes
with no credit card required.

Upon accessing the CoreCommerce Control Panel we were greeted with a pop-up window displaying 69 store templates to choose from. Some of those templates offer 7 different color schemes. Choosing a professional looking template was easy. Access to the HTML and CSS source code is also available on this platform; so further customization is always possible.

Note: We did notice that the Sum Effect domain name was displayed on the bottom left as we browsed through the different templates.

The system automatically guides you through the Set-up Wizard and it took us 17 minutes from beginning to end.

We were gladly surprise by the ability to drag-and-drop the different items or even remove them from the Admin Dashboard. There are several reports about Traffic and Orders as well as the CoreCommerce Blog feed right on your Dash Board. Customization of this screen is a nice feature since you will be looking at this screen every time you login and you only want relevant information.

Second thing we noticed in the Control Panel is the large text and buttons. Everything is easy to spot and not cluttered at all which makes it easy to work with on a daily basis.

Their free trial accounts do not offer FTP access so we were not able to review this feature.

Excited with our brand new store we headed over to the Design window and found a Drag-And-Drop designer tool that allows you to move widgets and panels around your store’s layout.

Best Features:

Ability to view Abandoned and LIVE carts: We were not expecting this, but you are actually able to see In Real Time the active carts on your store. You can see products and total dollar amounts that are pending to checkout. There is even an Actions drop-down menu that allows you to help your visitors check-out in case they need you to.

Automated Reoccurring Billing: CoreCommerce allows you to set-up reoccurring billing transactions aka ARB. Configure your ARB settings and the system does the rest, generating subsequent transactions based on the schedule you provided.

Reward Points: This feature can be configured to assign a point value per transaction so that your customers can accumulate points and redeem them in your store at a later time. Excellent feature to build repeat customers.

Individual Product Follow-up Emails: This feature allows you to configure subsequent follow-up emails by individual product. Configure by number of days after purchase. Emails can be created using a WYSIWYG editor or HTML.

Drop-Shipping:

CoreCommerce is drop-shipping friendly. You can select whether Vendors should receive a list of ALL products in the order or just those items that are tied to the specific vendor.

Setting-Up Products:

Simple and organized steps to set-up individual products with Canonical URLs with option for you to edit the structure. You are first presented with a WYSIWYG editor that can be easily switched to an HTML editor.

Checkout Options:

CoreCommerce offers all your regular checkout options found on similar shopping carts. We find important to highlight that the system can be configured to automatically detect the customer’s IP address and populate the checkout country for simplified checkout. Do you need to block certain countries to prevent fraud? CoreCommerce can do it for you with it’s IP blocking feature. You can also manage which fields are required during checkout.

Shipping Integration:

CoreCommerce shines in this area with integration to UPS, UPS FREIGHT, USPS, FedEx, FedEx Freight, DHL, Canada Post, Australia Post, South Eastern Freight, ABF, and Echo Global. Making a perfect solution for online merchants who need to ship large and bulky products that may need Freight services. This platform can also integrate with tracking systems so customers can track shipment right from your store.

Payment Gateway Integration:

No surprises here; CoreCommerce integrates with most Payment Gateways including PayPal, Authorize.net, FirstData, Moneris, and more.

Collecting Sales Tax:

Setting up our Sales Tax was easy using the Set-Up Wizard once again. The system guides you through a 4 step process where you can select Countries, States, or Zip Code based tax rates. The final step is a summary of your selection and, upon your confirmation, the system will collect Sales Tax on those orders that fall under the specified criteria.

Third-Party Software Integration:

CoreCommerce integrates with all your Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter. Direct integration with eMail Marketing platforms such as ConstantContact and MailChimp is also available. The system can integrate with QuickBooks, QuickBooks POS, Stone Edge, eBay, Google Analytics, DAZzle, Picnik, and more.

Other Features:

Deal Of The Day: you can use this to specify dates and times for specific products to be on sale and the system will automate the process. Deal of the Day will be displayed to visitors with an end time and date to create the sense of urgency.

Polls: creating a poll for your online store is quick and easy with CoreCommerce’s poll tool.

Mobile Store:

CoreCommerce fell short on this during our review. The Mobile version of the store was automatically created upon signing up for their trial but we had a couple problems while testing it. During our review, we tested the Mobile version on an Android phone and we were unable to scroll up or down. Apparently this is a known issue based on what we found on their GetSatisfaction community forum. CoreCommerce support said it was a CSS coding error and were quick to submit our support ticket.

We encountered a second problem when we chose to view the Full-Site version of our store from our Android test device. Going from Mobile to Full-Version of the store was easy but going from Full-Site to Mobile was not easy. CoreCommerce Support said that we needed to “clear the browser’s cache and cookies”. We were able to get back to the Mobile version upon following their instructions.

Support:

During our review we needed to contact CoreCommerce Chat Support 3 times. All 3 times the same person helped us (Brandon W.). Support staff was courteous and quick to solve our questions. We even managed to break our store during our review and Brandon nailed it in his first attempt to fix it. No concerns on Support response.

Summary:

CoreCommerce packs more than a hand-full of features and options that are hard to find in other shopping cart systems. Every plan includes the same tools which makes it perfect for an online start-up and ability to grow in this platform. Solid infrastructure provides secure and reliable back-end for online merchants looking to either stock their own products or run a drop-ship operation. ShoppingCartsForWebsites recommends CoreCommerce and encourages you to try their product.

For a limited time, open a CoreCommerce account and receive FREE customization and training.

Have questions?

This coupon is available only to new CoreCommerce customers which have clicked on the above coupon. Coupons are not sponsored or offered by CoreCommerce. These promotional offers are available to you through ShoppingCartsForWebsites and all training, advise, consultation, and web development work is provided by us and not by CoreCommerce itself.

6 Responses to "CoreCommerce Review + Coupon"

Just trying with open source shopping carts like Oscommerce, Zencart, and OpenCart. Never tried CoreCommerce as there is a trial offer I will try once. But I would like to deal with more economic carts where free cart available.

We had been using Corecommerce for almost a year with great success. The shopping cart system and options available to novice users was impressive and intuitive. We recently learned about their custom page design service, and looked through their client gallery. We were impressed with the sites they built. With such an enjoyable experience using the e-commerce platform, we decided to go forward with their custom design service. To start off, they sent us an exhaustive questionnaire about what direction and inspirations we want to use for the design. After submitting that, we had a one hour phone consultation with Steven, our designer for the project. We told him in detail the direction the custom design should go, our company’s core goals and the image we wanted to portray. We also showed websites that we liked as sources of inspiration, as well as websites we didn’t like. We were told a first draft would be provided within 10 days, and we had 3 stages of minor revisions to help finish up the design. The call was pleasant and communication was clear, we were very excited to see our custom design.

The Bad

The first draft they gave was lacking any kind of creative spark. It looked like a premade cookie cutter template you could choose from the regular interface. We were more than a little concerned. We expressed our concerns for the next revision, giving more design direction, asking for custom graphics and for a more directed design towards our product, a big push for more creative output. The second revision was literally a change in colors and a few gradients added. This set off alarms, and we strongly voiced our concern that we would need to have a phone call and bigger changes than what was made in the first revision. We were given a cookie cutter response, saying we had two revisions left and what we were requesting was beyond the scope of a minor revision. Phone calls were not allowed, only communication was through the email ticketing system. We were very disconcerted by this. They basically said the first draft, like it or not, was what they would base the design off of, and they could only make incremental tweaks. After much back and forth and stress requesting a real life person to speak to and not the same policy over and over again, we finally got on a call to Nikita, who listened to our entire story.

The Ugly

He agreed there was a disconnect in our expectations and their output. In short, he said we had to verbalize EXACTLY what we wanted and where to put it for our custom design. To us, we paid $1,800 for them to figure it out and BE CREATIVE. He tried to say it was our fault for not being specific enough, when in fact there was a complete lack of creative effort on their end. We included the fact that we have a creative team and programmer, but we wanted to outsource this because in their portfolio they have good examples of the work they had performed. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, we even asked them what or how did they get to that the product of the examples in their portfolio. He stated for those specific ones, the client asked for every detail, meaning they did none of the creative work other than the execution of what the client specifically dictated. Nikita agreed that there was a disconnect between the design and what we had laid out as the direction we wanted them to move in. But, again he stated that was OUR FAULT! Exasperated, we stated since they had only done 10% of their work for the project, and since we would not receive an end product to our satisfaction, we would like to walk away from the project and recoup our losses and get a full refund or at least a partial refund. He stated we could walk away from the project, but as a company policy there were no refunds ever. He said we could continue with the work (which he even agreed the end result would be something we’re unsatisfied with) and to change our expectations to suit “the reality of the scope available in the remaining revisions”. He told us to lower our expectations for a project which won’t be delivered to satisfaction. We were dumbfounded and frustrated by this clear lack of customer service and their hiding behind policy.

We even went so far as to ask for someone else higher up the chain to speak to. He said, he reports to the CEO and given this situation he knows there’s nothing that can be done, “as a company policy, we do not issue refunds, EVER.”

So in conclusion, I wouldn’t touch Corecommerce with a 10 foot pole, in fact, run away! Their inflexibility and poor customer service experience on the part of Nikita and apparently the company culture, coupled with the non-refunded failed project ruined the rest of the experience for me and my company. We are planning to withdraw our store from their E-commerce platform. If you know exactly what you want your site design to be down to the minute detail, and can communicate well, you should use another service, they’ll do a better job. But if you’re expecting them to take the creative reins, or even be creative, don’t even bother. You’ll end up paying $1,800 for a pre-made late 90’s template.

After posting a previous review about our negative experience, We were contacted directly by the CEO and allowed to explain our situation to him fully. He lsitened intently, and apologized for the way our initial experience turned out. Without going into too much detail, we were able to communicate on an even level and found a way to move forward that would be mutually beneficial, This was a complete turnaround than our prior customer service experience. It feels good to have options again, and I give them credit for being able to take responsibility and be flexible about a unique situation. This is not to say the situation is resolved fully yet, but having the CEO of corecommerce take notice and personally attend to the situation means a lot. I will post another update to let you all know how it turned out.